Carbon nanostructures, for example, single wall carbon nanotubes (“SWNT”) and multi-wall carbon nanotubes (“MWNT”), have attracted significant interest in recent years for their potentially unique electrical and mechanical properties. A major impediment to the development of materials based on carbon nanostructure technology, particularly SWNT and MWNT carbon nanotube technology, has been the relatively high cost and low production rates of carbon nanostructures such as SWNT and MWNT. Pure single wall carbon nanotubes are particularly expensive and typically have low production rates. Generally, the current synthesis methods for nanotubes utilize the self-assembly of gas phase carbon precursors onto a growing carbon nanotube. The production of carbon nanotubes, e.g., SWNT and MWNT, in such a manner appears to be limited by the availability of the carbon supply at the growing end of the carbon nanofiber and the population of the growing fibers within a reactor. The equipment costs associated with currently used methods for carbon nanotube synthesis, particularly SWNT and MWNT synthesis, indicate that true volume production is impractical.